West Palm Beach, FL, Apr 2, 2026 - (ACN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - U.S. Polo Assn., the official sports brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), proudly supported the Division I National Intercollegiate Championship (NIC), held March 19-22, 2026, near Dallas, Texas, at the Prestonwood Polo & Country Club. As the highest level of collegiate polo in the United States, the NIC brings together the nation's top student-athletes to compete for national titles.2026 Division I Women's National Intercollegiate Champions, University of South Carolina - Aiken Polo Team Winifred Branscum, Madison Jordan, and Brianna Jordan; 2026 Division I Men's National Intercollegiate Champions, University of North Texas Polo Team Alec Felhaber, Niklaus Felhaber, Johann Felhaber, Mosiah Gravesande, Sebastian Celis GuerreroPhoto Credit: @oanaphotoAs a proud supporter of the USPA's Intercollegiate/Interscholastic (I/I) Program, U.S. Polo Assn. continues to invest in the next generation of polo players. For the 2026 NIC, the global sport brand provided custom event t-shirts for all participants, featuring special-edition designs honoring the 50th Anniversary of the Division I Women's NIC, along with player prizes for all finalists and exclusive U.S. Polo Assn. Champions Caps to the winning teams. On-site, the sport brand also enhanced the fan experience with cap giveaways, adding to the energy of the championship atmosphere.Division I Women's National Intercollegiate Championship at a Glance:Final Matchup: University of South Carolina - Aiken(Winifred Branscum, Brianna Jordan, Madison Jordan) vs. Texas A&M University(Josie Dorsey, Francesca Felhaber, Jordan Fikes, Alternates: Kylie Beard, Emily Coflin, Sophia DeAngelis)Date: March 22, 2026Location: Prestonwood Polo & Country Club, Oak Point, TexasFinal Score: 15 (USC-Aiken) - 6 (Texas A&M)All-Stars: Madison Jordan (USC-Aiken), Josie Dorsey (TAMU), Kelsey Bray (UVA), and Winifred Branscum (USC-Aiken)Best Playing Pony: Fiscal, played and owned by Winifred Branscum (USC-Aiken)Division I Men's National Intercollegiate Championship at a Glance:Final Matchup: University of North Texas(Alec Felhaber, Johann Felhaber, Niklaus Felhaber, Mosiah Gravesande, Alternate: Sebastian Celis Guerrero) vs. Cornell University(Benito Jarmillo, Malachi Light, Max Sponer, Alternates: Harrison Fredericks, Fin Maroney, Mihali Pinzon, Dylan Tung)Date: March 22, 2026Location: Prestonwood Polo & Country Club, Oak Point, TexasFinal Score: 15 (UNT) -13 (Cornell)All-Stars: Will Mudra (TAMU), Malachi Light (Cornell), Benito Jarmillo (Cornell), Johann Felhaber (UNT)Best Playing Pony: Zury, owned by Texas A&M UniversityU.S. Polo Assn. supports more than 30 colleges and universities and approximately 70 teams nationwide through its Collegiate Partnership Program (CPP). During its eighth consecutive year, the brand supports the next generation of polo players through jerseys, custom-performance apparel, branded equipment, financial contributions, and more. The CPP is available to all colleges and universities, with its participating teams ranging from the East to the West Coast and including small private and large public institutions, as well as Ivy League and Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs)."The Division I National Intercollegiate Championship represents the future of the sport, where dedication, teamwork, and passion for the sport of polo come together at the highest level of collegiate competition," said J. Michael Prince, President and CEO of USPA Global, the company that manages the multi-billion-dollar U.S. Polo Assn. brand. "U.S. Polo Assn. is proud to support these exceptional student-athletes and to continue investing in the next generation of players and future leaders at every level.""Congratulations to all of the participants in the Division I Women's and Men's Championships, and good luck to the Division II National Intercollegiate Championships participants next month," added Prince.The Division I Women's and Men's Finals will be featured on Global Polo's award-winning show, "Breakaway: Polo in College," and distributed across ESPN and Global Polo platforms, extending the reach of collegiate championship polo to a global audience. Check local listings for airtimes."The 2026 National Intercollegiate Championship marks the 50th Anniversary of the Division I Women's Intercollegiate Tournament, and it's inspiring to see the remarkable talent and commitment these student-athletes have shown throughout such a highly competitive and significant season," said Liz Brayboy, Chair of the USPA's Intercollegiate/Interscholastic (I/I) Committee. "With the continued support of U.S. Polo Assn., collegiate polo continues to grow and reach new audiences and sports fans, which is incredibly exciting for us, and collegiate sports overall."About U.S. Polo Assn. and USPA GlobalU.S. Polo Assn. is the official sports brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), the largest association of polo clubs and polo players in the United States, founded in 1890. With a multi-billion-dollar global footprint and worldwide distribution through more than 1,200 U.S. Polo Assn. retail stores as well as thousands of additional points of distribution, U.S. Polo Assn. offers apparel, accessories, and footwear for men, women, and children in more than 190 countries worldwide. The brand sponsors major polo events around the world, including the U.S. Open Polo Championship®, held annually at NPC in The Palm Beaches, the premier polo tournament in the United States. Historic deals with ESPN in the United States, TNT and Eurosport in Europe, and Star Sportsin India now broadcast several of the premier polo championships in the world, sponsored by U.S. Polo Assn., making the thrilling sport accessible to millions of sports fans globally for the very first time.U.S. Polo Assn. has consistently been named one of the top global sports licensors in the world alongside the NFL, PGA Tour, and Formula 1, according to License Global. In addition, the sport-inspired brand is being recognized internationally with awards for global growth and sport content. Due to its tremendous success as a global brand, U.S. Polo Assn. has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Modern Retail, and GQ as well as on Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg, among many other noteworthy media sources around the world. For more information, visit uspoloassnglobal.com and follow @uspoloassn.USPA Global is a subsidiary of the United States Polo Association (USPA) and manages the multi-billion-dollar sports brand, U.S. Polo Assn. USPA Global also manages the subsidiary, Global Polo, which is the worldwide leader in polo sport content. To learn more, visit globalpolo.com or Global Polo on YouTube.For Additional Information, Contact:Shannon Stilson - VP, Sports Marketing and MediaPhone +001.561.227.6994 - E-mail: sstilson@uspagl.comStacey Kovalsky - VP, Global PR and CommunicationsPhone +001.561.790.8036 - E-mail: skovalsky@uspagl.comSOURCE: U.S. Polo Assn. Copyright 2026 ACN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com

Vancouver, BC, Apr 2, 2026 - (ACN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - Founders Metals Inc. (TSXV: FDR) (OTCQX: FDMIF) (FSE: 9DL0) ("Founders" or the "Company") announces a new high-grade gold discovery at its Antino Gold Project ("Antino" or "Project") in southeastern Suriname. The Company reports high-grade gold mineralization from surface, returning 17.22 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) over 3.6 metres (m) within a broader 24.6 m interval grading 2.81 g/t Au, in the first-ever drillhole in the Antino North area (Figure 1).HighlightsFirst ever Antino North drilling delivers exceptional results from surface in the first drillhole (AN001)24.6 m of 2.81 g/t Au including 3.60 m of 17.22 g/t Au from 1.5 m down hole13.5 m of 0.44 g/t Au from 54.6 mFirst drillhole testing one of twelve gold-bearing structures identified to date at Antino NorthSurface work continues:Over 4,500 auger samples to date in 2026Total combined strike length of mapped shear zones on surface is 5.3 kmSecond Antino North drill now turning on previously undrilled kilometre-scale gold auger anomaly (Figure 2)Colin Padget, President & CEO, commented, "The Antino North area covers nearly 10,000 hectares of highly prospective geology that has never seen a drillhole - so we are thrilled to see such high-grade results from our first diamond hole into the area. Our team on the ground has so far mapped twelve parallel shear zones across and along strike of the intercepted structure, and we plan to test many of them over the current ~3,500 metre phase-one drill program. This Antino North discovery reinforces our belief that the larger Antino Project is host to a major district-scale gold system, and there remains significant exploration upside and opportunity for further discoveries with this year's exploration program."Antino North DrillingThe new discovery is hosted within a series of approximately 5- to 25-metre-wide shear zones, with geological characteristics consistent with high-grade gold mineralization documented elsewhere on the Antino Gold Project, including at Upper Antino. The reported drillhole tested the first of twelve northwest-trending parallel shears recently mapped over multiple kilometres across the Antino North area, highlighting the significant scale of the mineralizing system. The mapped shear zones are spatially coincident with a large regional-scale fold - a structural setting commonly associated with orogenic gold deposits across the Guiana Shield.Mineralization is similar in character to the shear- and vein-hosted gold mineralization at Upper Antino, comprising sheared subvertical quartz veins with late brittle deformation overprinting and a sericite-ankerite-tourmaline alteration assemblage.The Antino North concession has no record of historical diamond drilling. This discovery represents the first drill-tested gold zone within the recently acquired exploration concession, located approximately 20 kilometres southwest of the Upper Antino area - confirming the potential for new mineralized centres across the district-scale Antino land package.Table 1: Drill Hole Assay ResultsDrillholeFrom (m)To (m)Interval (m)Au (g/t)AN0011.5026.1024.602.81incl1.505.103.6017.22and54.6068.1013.500.44 *Intervals are down-hole depths. True widths of mineralization are unknown at this time based on currently available results and observations. All are diamond drill holes. Interval average grades are calculated with un-capped gold assays, as insufficient drilling has been completed to determine capping levels for higher-grade gold intercepts. Widths are calculated using a 0.10 g/t gold cut-off grade with

HONG KONG, Apr 2, 2026 - (ACN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - Luxury new energy vehicle (NEV) enterprise Seres officially released its 2025 annual results on March 30, with several core financial indicators recording steady growth and profitability continuing to strengthen for the second consecutive year, attracting widespread market attention.The results report shows that in 2025, Seres achieved revenue of approximately RMB164.89 billion with a year-on-year increase of 13.63%, net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was RMB5.96 billion and R&D investment reached RMB12.51 billion, a year-on-year increase of 77.4%. The Company also announced a proposed final dividend of RMB0.8 per share (tax included), totaling approximately RMB1.9 billion in cash dividends, reflecting its commitment to rewarding shareholders.In terms of sales performance, Seres' NEV sales continued to maintain a high level. Annual sales in 2025 reached 472,269 units, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.63%. The Group's premium brand AITO recorded cumulative annual deliveries exceeding 420,000 units, making it the best-selling Chinese luxury automotive brand in the domestic market. Across the full lineup, the AITO M5, M7, M8, and M9 collectively surpassed one million cumulative deliveries. The coordinated growth in both sales and profit further strengthened the Group's overall operational resilience and risk management capabilities.In terms of R&D investment, Seres has maintained a strong commitment. In 2025, the Company’s R&D investment reached RMB12.51 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 77.4%. Both the intensity and growth rate of R&D investment remained industry-leading, reflecting the Company’s adherence to a technology-driven strategy and laying a solid foundation for future product iteration and core competitiveness.The Group’s cash flow performance was also robust. As of December 31, 2025, net cash flow from operating activities amounted to RMB28.12 billion. Ample cash reserves enabled the Company to support high-intensity R&D and international expansion while building a stronger risk buffer and enhancing strategic flexibility.Kaiyuan Securities, Changjiang Securities, CICC, and Guotai Haitong are among the major brokerages maintaining positive ratings on Seres — Kaiyuan and Changjiang with "Buy," Guotai Haitong with "Overweight," and CICC with "Outperform" alongside a revised target price of RMB 120. All institutions are optimistic on Seres' long-term growth prospects, noting that underlying business fundamentals continue to improve with a clear and compelling growth thesis. Key catalysts include a dense Q2 model launch cycle (AITO M6 and refreshed M9/M8), accelerating overseas expansion into the Middle East and Europe, and a robotics business increasingly seen as a credible second growth curve.Overall, Seres delivered a comprehensive upgrade in its 2025 results, spanning sales volume, profit, R&D and cash flow. The Company stated that it will continue to position itself as a luxury vehicle enterprise, deepen its presence in the intelligent NEV sector, further increase investment in core technologies, enrich its high-end product portfolio, accelerate its global market expansion, and focus on improving profitability and core competitiveness, thereby supporting the continued upgrading of China’s new energy vehicle industry. For investors, this performance has undoubtedly strengthened confidence in the Company’s future growth. Copyright 2026 ACN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com

HONG KONG, Apr 2, 2026 - (ACN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - Across the landscape of global biotech companies, the appointment of a senior executive often serves as a "barometer"—offering insights into a company's pipeline potential and reflecting how industry veterans gauge the sector’s future.A clear signal of the company’s growth arrived in February 2026, when HighTide Therapeutics (2511.HK) announced a high-profile executive appointment: Dr. Filip Surmont joined the company as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).For professionals in the cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic fields, this is a name that carries real weight. Over a career spanning three decades, Dr. Surmont has held senior medical leadership roles at multinational giants including Wyeth, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca. Among his most notable contributions was his role in the global strategic development of the SGLT-2 inhibitor dapagliflozin — a landmark effort that required close collaboration across functions and geographies within a large multinational organization. As part of a talented cross-functional team, he helped shape the strategy that positioned dapagliflozin as a global metabolic blockbuster, ultimately reaching $8.405 billion USD in sales in 2025.Notably, just a few months earlier, HighTide Therapeutics' core product, HTD1801, had outperformed dapagliflozin across multiple key cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic endpoints in a head-to-head Phase III clinical trial for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).For Dr. Surmont, transitioning from managing a reigning "blockbuster" to joining a “challenger” Chinese biotech was far from coincidental. What drew him out of his comfort zone was not just HTD1801's strong glucose-lowering performance, but also the breakthrough potential this new molecular entity (NME) has shown in cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic (CKM) disease in general, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) more specifically — driven by a fundamentally differentiated pathophysiological mechanisms.I.Challenging Clinical Complacency in CKD: The Quest for True ReversalWithin the medical community, chronic kidney disease (CKD) has long been a source of frustration. Once the kidney function begins to decline, it typically deteriorates progressively and irreversibly over time, leaving most patients facing dialysis or kidney transplantation as an eventual outcome."There has long been a degree of complacency in CKD treatment among physicians, patients, and even caregivers," Dr. Surmont noted pointedly. "A mindset has taken hold that the progressive decline in renal function with age is inevitable. I’ve been striving to change this mindset throughout my career, both during my time at multinational pharmaceutical companies and now."Current standard treatments — including ACE inhibitors/ARBs and the widely used SGLT-2 inhibitors — have demonstrated efficacy in slowing disease progression, yet fall short of halting or reversing the underlying pathology. They can significantly reduce the rate of decline in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), buying patients valuable time, but fail to alter the terminal trajectory towards kidney failure.Further complicating the clinical picture is the multi-factorial nature of CKD. Taking diabetic kidney disease (DKD) caused by T2DM as an example, besides pathophysiological factors driven by metabolic dysfunction, it is complicated by interconnected and highly complex factors such as hemodynamic perturbances, chronic inflammation, fibrosis, and other non-diabetic factors that fuel each other to worsen disease prognosis.Existing standard-of-care drugs often address only one dimension of the disease by regulating hemodynamics or a single metabolic pathway, making it difficult to comprehensively address the inflammatory damage in the renal microenvironment.II.Inside the Mechanism: Remodeling Renal Architecture via a Dual Metabolic and Anti-inflammatory PathwayThe emergence of HTD1801 provides a new key to breaking this deadlock.As an oral anti-inflammatory and metabolic modulator (AIMM) independently developed by HighTide Therapeutics, HTD1801 demonstrates a unique therapeutic potential at the microscopic level as compared to traditional drugs. Rather than relying on a single mechanism, it takes a "two-pronged" approach by activating AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase) and inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome.Dr. Surmont has full confidence in the scientific logic underpinning this mechanism: "This drug acts simultaneously on two critical levels: beyond blood sugar, it improves overall metabolic efficiency at its source; at the same time, it directly suppresses the underlying chronic inflammation that drives organ damage."Taking a deep dive into its mechanism of action, HTD1801's dual mechanism precisely targets multiple microstructures within the kidney. "This is reflected across different renal compartments," Dr. Surmont explained. "From the filtering glomeruli and the structural interstitium to the reabsorptive tubules, and even podocytes—the vital gatekeepers of the filtration barrier, the dual action of AMPK activation and NLRP3 inhibition has demonstrated stronger-than-expected protective benefits."This mechanistic rationale, spanning from metabolic regulation to organ-level protection, has ultimately been validated by clinical data.At the 2025 American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Annual Meeting, HighTide Therapeutics presented as a late breaker Phase III clinical study data in T2DM patients with mild renal impairment. The results captured the industry's attention: compared with the placebo group, the HTD1801 group demonstrated a significant and sustainable difference in annualized eGFR slope of +9.81 ml/min/1.73 m²/year.In the eyes of nephrologists, a "positive slope" on the eGFR curve is a strong and unique signal, suggesting the possibility of early structural recovery."What we need to do next is confirm that this eGFR repair effect observed in DKD also holds true for CKD patients not driven by diabetes," Dr. Surmont revealed, indicating that relevant clinical studies are already underway, with more detailed data expected to validate this cross-etiology therapeutic potential.III.From "Rescue" to "Prevention": Advancing a Holistic Cardiorenal Metabolic (CKM) MindsetDr. Surmont brings to HighTide Therapeutics more than just clinical expertise; he brings a “game-changing” mentality that transcends a single-drug perspective.Another career-defining milestone for Dr. Surmont was his leadership role in helping reshape global asthma treatment guidelines. Historically, asthma management relied on short-acting bronchodilators for "rescue" only upon exacerbation of symptoms and shortness of breath. Dr. Surmont proposed and validated the "Anti-Inflammatory Reliever (AIR)" strategy a modern asthma management strategy that uses a combination inhaled corticosteroids and a bronchodilator as a reliever — treating both the acute bronchospasm and the underlying airway inflammation with every dose, in contrast to traditional short acting dilator-only relief. This shift ultimately benefited approximately 120 million patients worldwide and reshaped treatment paradigms.Now, facing CKD, he sees the same opportunity for a paradigm-shifting breakthrough.Given HTD1801's strong potential to repair mild renal impairment, future clinical guidelines could reasonably recommend initiating treatments early, when eGFR is still at a relatively high level. By establishing a positive trajectory for renal function recovery early in the disease, there is hope that most patients can completely avoid the looming threat of dialysis.From a health-economics perspective, this would reallocate healthcare spending: shifting funds away from costly late-stage interventions (such as dialysis and heart failure rescue) towards highly cost-effective early treatment, thereby generating substantial healthcare cost savings for society and reducing patients’ financial burden for late-stage interventions.Dr. Surmont also strongly advocates for a holistic management approach to "Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM)" health. As multifunctional drugs like HTD1801 continue to evolve, he believes physicians will move beyond the single-dimensional therapeutic mindset."My ideal scenario is that all physicians managing cardiovascular, metabolic, renal, hepatic, or even obesity issues would evaluate the patient with a holistic mindset," he says, pointing to the current siloed nature in clinical practice. " As an example eGFR monitoring is not always part of routine cardiological assessment, yet at the mechanistic level, cardiac and renal dysfunction are manifestations of the same underlying disease process — making an integrated view essential"He cited a successful experiment he led while promoting dapagliflozin in China: requiring cardiologists at partner hospitals to measure patients' eGFR during their consultations. By merely adding this simple cross-disciplinary action, the number of patients on guideline directed medical treatment tripled within six months.IV.A Buyer's Lens: The Booming BD Activity in CKD and HighTide Therapeutics’ Confidence in Value CreationAs a core member of the company's leadership team, Dr. Surmont also frequently examines HighTide Therapeutics' position through the lens of capital market and industry dynamics.Over the past two years, the global biopharmaceutical market has seen a surge in business development (BD) activity in the CKD field. In 2025, Roche announced a major collaboration with Zealand Pharma valued at up to $5.3 billion; multinational giants like Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk have also been making significant investments to secure premium assets in the metabolic and renal disease space.Dr. Surmont, drawing on his extensive multinational experience, has a clear read on this "land grab" phenomenon: "The core driver is the massive profit potential and rapid growth in this field. Five years ago, the therapeutic arsenal here was relatively limited. Now, with breakthrough blockbusters like GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2i’s, the kidney disease landscape has been reshaped, yet there remains a residual risk is 60–80% of the original event burden.He further elaborated: "Even when patients are treated with four pillars of therapy (ACEi/ARBs, SGLT-2i’s, GLP-1RAs, MRAs), the complex underlying inflammatory mechanisms remain largely unaddressed, still leaving a significant gap in our ability to fully protect the kidney. This creates substantial pricing potential and broad combination therapy prospects for drugs with fundamentally new mechanisms like HTD1801.""Looking back at the history of SGLT-2 inhibitors, it took over a decade from approval to reaching 20%-25% guideline-directed clinical uptake. The slow progress was partly due to a lack of strong medical education and advocacy, and partly because of physicians and patients’ tendency to yield to the disease's natural trajectory."Now, having taken the helm as CMO of HighTide Therapeutics, Dr. Filip Surmont is poised to challenge the status quo and break this complacency with solid clinical data and a new medical narrative. For this drug—born from Chinese innovation with a global ambition—the voyage in the CKM field has only just begun. Copyright 2026 ACN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.com